Programme Overview

'More home-grown players and those developed within our programmes being recruited onto the professional staff and going on to have long and successful playing careers with Northants'

One of the Strategies to achieve that vision is to;

'Establish high quality programmes to develop young cricketers'

The Northants EPP is one such programme. The Emerging Players Programme is designed to identify the very best youngsters from within our County youth system and give them individual development plans on a one to one basis supported by our very best coaches.

We are dedicated to creating an environment for each Individual to maximise their potential in all aspects of cricket and take the first step on the steep ladder to become a professional Northants cricketer.

EPP Process

The programme is for 12 to 16 year olds and starts the Pathway from EPP to Academy and onto Second XI, First XI and hopefully international cricket.

The selection of the players for the programme starts with feedback being given by the County age group manager to the Elite Performance Coach. That feedback identifies the players ability within a range of key areas along with their potential. From here a panel of our best coaches come together and decide on the players that will be selected onto the programme.

The programme has been running for three years and each year it is refined. We have already had players go from the EPP into the Academy system and make it into England age groups and onto the Northants 2nd XI.

The Programme

The coaching team used for the programme are the County's most qualified. Lead by Kevin Innes (Elite Performance Coach) who is a Level 4 Coach, supported by David Ripley (Academy Director) another Level 4 Coach and Phil Rowe (Elite Performance Coach) who is currently going through his Level 4 Award. All the support Coaches on the programme are a minimum Level 3 qualified.

The programme gives players the opportunity to concentrate technically on their cricket mainly on a one to one basis along with a wider look at a whole array of aspects including fitness, nutrition, tactics, lifestyle, leadership and team work.

The programme runs on a weekly basis with players dedicating a minimum of 6 hours a week to work on their games. The training is mainly run in the Indoor Centre at the County Ground. It runs all through the winter and the summer periods to give players the best chance to improve.

Whilst every effort is made to select the right players for the programme we acknowledge players at such a young age are going through growth spurts and pressures of schooling and will develop at different speeds. Therefore in order to keep a close eye on the Players on the fringe of the EPP they are also invited to attend relevant sessions along with the EPP players. This happens on average once a month.